Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-30
THE NATIONAL DRILL.
The Rev. T. Dewitt TaImage breaches
an Eloquent Discourse to a Mill
tary Congregation.
so,diers from Thirty.0ne states and
Territories and Nineteen Governors
and their STATS Present.
. contrast Drawn Between the Condition
If the Country In '62 and in 'S7-WhY
we should Scatter Flowers.


sermon by the Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
-,ooe D. D. Soldiers from thirty-one
-+stes and territories were present, and
,inereen governors and their stats.
washington is full of strangers attendant
,,,on the National Drill, having for its
ooiect improvement in military science,
1ybich begun May 90 and will close to-
-,orrow. The music before and after the
sermon this morning was conducted by
,-f1f+sry bands. DR.. Talmage's texts
1rere taken from I. Chronicles, xii, SO:
.tFiftv thousand which could keep rank, :"
and Judges, xx., 10; Every one could
Sing stones at g hair-breadth and not
miss" The preacher said:
companies of infantry, cavalry, Rrtil
Iery and zOusves, please notice the first
scripture passage applauds the soldiers
n Zebulon because they were discipline d
troops. They may have been inefficient
g. the start and laughed st by old soldiers
because they seemed so clumsy in the
line. but it was drill, drill, drill, until
+hev could keep step as one man. "Fifty
thousand which could keep rank" The
second scripture passage applauds a regi-
men Of singers in the tribe of BenjSmiD
because they are deXterous marksmen.
When they first enlisted they may have
beeu an awkward squad and all their fin
GERS were thumbs, but they practiced I'M
nj when they aimed At mark they always
hit f. "Every one could sling stones at
q 1air-bresdth and not miss" Both texts
combining to show US that if we must
light
WE SHOULD DO 1T WELL.
There is something absorbing in tn e
military science of the Bible. In olden
times all the men between twenty and
fitv years of age were enrolled in the
army, and then q levy was made for 8
special service. There were only three
or four classes exempt; those who had
nu.lt a house and had not occupied it;
those who had planted garden and had
not reaped the fruit of it; those who We're
engaged to be marriediand yet had not led
me bride to the altar; those VINO were yet
10 the hrst year of welded life; those
who were so nervous that they could not
look upon an enemy but they fed and
could not look upon blood but they
tainted.
The army was in three divisions-the
center and right and left wings. The
weapons Of defense were helmet shield,
offense were sword, spear, iavelin, al
row, Cstapult-which was merely bow
swung BY machinery, shooting arrows ct
vast distances, great arrows, one arrow
as large as several men could lift, and
gnlista, which was q sling swung by
machinery, hurting great rocks and large
pieces of lead to vast distances. The
shields were made OF woven willow work
of DO
inside through which the arm of the war
rior might be thrust; and when these
soldiers were marching 10 attack an
enemy on the level, all these shields
touched each other, making a wall NOV
ng but impenetrable; and then when
they attacked q fortress and tried to cap
.ure q battlement this shield was lifted
over the head so as TO resist the falling
missiles. The breastplate was made of
two pieces of Ieat9 er, brass covered, one
piece falling over the breast, the other
falling over the back. At the side of the
warrior the tw pieces
FASTENED WITH BUTTONS OR CLASPS.
The BOWS were so stout and stiff
snd strong that warriors often
challenged each other to bend
one. The strings of the bow were made
from the sinewS OF oxen. A case like an
Inverted pyramid was fastened to the
back, that case containing the arrows, so
that when the warrior wanted to use an
arrow he would put his arm over his
shoulder and pull forth the arrow tor the
dght. The ankle of the foot had an iron
aOOt When g wall WAS to be assaulted
d Dattering ram was brought up. A bat
tering ram was a great beam swung on
chains in equilibrium. The battering
ram would be brought close up to the
wall and then great number of men
would take hold of this beam, push it
back as far as they could and then
let 90, and the beam became great
swinging pendulum of destruction.
Twenty or forty men would stand in 8
movable tower on the back of an ele-
plant, the elephant made drunk with
wine, and then headed toward the enemy,
and what with the heavy feet and the
swing probOsCls and the poisoned arrows
shot from the movable tower, the de-
stTuCtion WAS appalling. War chariots
were in vogue and they were on two
wheels so they could easily turn. A
sword was fastened TO the pole between
the horses so when they went ahead the
sword thrust, and when they turned
around it would NOW down. The armies
carried flags beautifully embroidered.
Tribe of Judah carried flag embroidered
with q lion; tribe of Reuben, embroidered
with man; tribe of Dan, embroidered
with cherubim. The noise of the host as
they moved on was overwhelming, What
with the clatter of shields and the rumb-
ling of wheels and the shouts of the cap
rains, and the vociferation of the entire
host, the prophet says it was like the
roaring of the sea. Because the erts of
war have been advancing all these years,
you are not to conclude that these armies
OF Olden times were
AN UNCONTROLLABLE MOB.
I could quote you four or five passages
Of Scripture showing you that they
were thoroughly drilled: they marched
step to step, shoulder to shoulder, or, as
my texts express it, they were $4,000
which could keep rank" and "Every one
could sling stones at har-breadth and
not miss"
Nothing could be more important than
this great national encampment. In
drilled troops can never stand before
those which are drilled. At time when
other nations are giving such care to
military tactics, it behooves this nation
10 lack nothing in skill. We shall never
have another war between north and
south. The old decsyed bone of con-